Players: 1-4 offline (splitscreen) and online (coop)Online Trophies: All trophies can be completed completely offline, if desired. However, playing online with friends or random players makes certain trophies much easier to acquire.Estimated Time to Platinum: 30-50 hours, depending on skill and assistance from other players.Minimum Playthroughs: 2+Collectible Trophies:Catch 'em AllMissable Trophies: None, as completed maps can be replayed at any point via the mission select.Special Equipment Required: NoneOnline Pass Required: Not required

It appears as though as of March, 2014, the ability to play Dungon Defenders online is no longer available. The following was posted in the Trendy Forums regarding the situation.

Dungeon Defenders on the PS3 was built on GameSpy technology. GameSpy shut down in December 2012. Every game that was built on GameSpy technology was shut down during this time, but GameSpy gave some companies extensions, including our company. From what we can gather, that extension period is now over. This means that online connectivity for Dungeon Defenders on the PS3 is no longer available. We're incredibly sorry about this.

While the platinum is achievable completely offline, some of the trophies will require you to have multiple controllers.

Part of what makes Dungeon Defenders so enriching is the multiplayer aspect of the game. The game is fun, but being able to play with friends makes it even more fun. There are occasions, though, where you'll want to play online, so you'll join (or host) a public lobby and meet new people. Here are some tips that you can (and probably should) follow in order to make the experience as pleasant as possible. The kicking system in lobbies is not a vote system. Basically, whoever is running the lobby can kick whomever for any reason. Sometimes people kick people for no reason at all. So, for one, don't take offense if you get kicked often; it's happened to all of us many times. Second, adhere to good online etiquette to mitigate the chances of getting kicked. These are in no particular order of importance.

DON'T BEG FOR ITEMS IN SOMEONE'S TAVERN!!! If someone is interested in trading, they'll usually let you know.

Never sell/build towers on a map that you're not hosting, unless you're asked to! This is a definite way to get kicked. If you think you can build the map better, respectfully ask the host if they'd like you to build. If they decline, then either respect that and keep earning XP, or move on to another lobby, or host your own.

Most people probably won't mind if you start upgrading their towers, but it's probably best to ask if they want them upgraded to begin with. This is ESPECIALLY important for Auras (and sometimes, traps). I probably wouldn't start upgrading until after the 2nd wave, at least. During the first two waves, the focus is to build the map, so the mana should be devoted to that. In fact, just to be on the safe side, just want until it's 100% certain the map is finished before upgrading.

Building off the previous bullet, during the build phase, do the builder a favour and collect as much mana as you can on the map and deliver it to them. Typically, builders are slower, so they can't get to everything in time. Any help they can get is appreciated. DO NOT sit there with the mana in your possession while someone else needs it to build towers.

When you join a lobby, be realistic about what you're doing. Don't show up on a Tier 3 map with a Lvl 20 hero. In fact, it's always best to show up with your highest level (and preferably, a DPS) hero. If you have any intention on switching to a lower-level (or tower) hero, say, if you want to power level, ALWAYS ask first. If the host doesn't want you to switch, then either respect their wishes, or go find another lobby.

Don't join another lobby and go AFK, or bring in an AFK controller. Not only is it rude and disrespectful, but it could cause the map to fail if the enemies become too overwhelming due to the increased enemy count. If you want to have an AFK controller (e.g., you want to level an additional character) ALWAYS ask. Typically, people don't like this, but you may get lucky.

The DLC maps may not be as stable as other maps, so it's probably best to only join the vanilla maps when joining random lobbies.

Dungeon Defenders has a habit of often delaying trophies from being unlocked. You may satisfy the requirements of a trophy and unlock the in-game achievement but the trophy won't unlock. Often times, it's just a matter of waiting. For some strange reason, trophies unlock hours or sometimes days after meeting the requirement. Other times, it's just a matter of playing a map or two again, and it'll trigger the game to unlock the trophy. If you unlock the in-game achievement and the trophy didn't unlock, either wait it out, or try replaying a few maps.

Be careful when trading items. After you put an item in the trade window, DO NOT press on any of the items. Doing so, often, causes the game to freeze. When you're ready to trade, simply execute your trade and move on.

Most commonly-used builds revolve around the Squire's and Monk's (and sometimes the Huntress') defenses where as most DPS builds revolve around the Huntress and Apprentice. Although Dungeon Defenders can be played any way and style you want, these are staples in the DunDef community.

Many players may disagree with this, but I always tend to make sure that all my characters, whether they're tower or DPS, have relatively high hero speed and casting rate (other than the DPS apprentice, as you'll read below).

Hero speed - This is useful for all builds for a couple of reasons. On Insane difficulty and higher, there's a time limit during the build phase, so your builders should be able to traverse the maps in a decent amount of time, otherwise, you won't be able to complete your build before some of the tougher enemies spawn. This can be particularly problematic on the larger, Area 3 maps. On a DPS build, you'll always want to make sure you can quickly engage the most dangerous enemies and there are times when you don't know when or from where they'll spawn. Essentially, we're talking about the Ogres. On most maps, the spawns are not random in terms of placement or time. Random Ogre spawning is probably more so an issue on the largest of the vanilla maps, Glitterhelm Caverns.

Hero Casting Rate - For builders, this is important for obvious reasons. How quickly you can put up a tower during the timed build phase on Insane difficulty and higher is directly, and greatly dependent on your casting rate. If you have a low casting rate, it'll take much longer for you to put up your towers and finish your build, leaving your crystal vulnerable. For DPS characters, a high casting rate is desirable because the rate at which you repair and upgrade towers is also greatly dependent on your casting rate. Most people will not tolerate someone who sits on a map and doesn't repair and/or upgrade defenses, so that's something you'll want to get into the habit of doing, unless the host tells you not to. However, you don't want your repairing to take so long that you're essentially ineffective in battle. NOTE: The only exception to this rule is a DPS Apprentice that you will NOT be using during the Build phase, because the apprentice has an Overcharge ability which boosts any casting-related tasks such as tower repairing and upgrading. The Overcharge can only be used during the Combat phase, though. If you plan on using a tower apprentice, DO invest in casting rate.

The earlier maps (Area 1 and Area 2) can be completed with a squire, for the most part. Most Area 3 maps will, most likely, require the use of supplemental defenses such as the Monk's auras or the Huntress' traps. The builds I show will make use of the Squire's towers and the Monk's auras, so if you intend on using my builds, I suggest you makes those types of character builds.

A good (and almost necessary) way to earn XP for multiple characters in a reasonble time is to play splitscreen. This becomes particularly effective when you have a hero whose towers can hold their own on a map without much help being necessary from a DPS character. See Group Hug on XP grinding methods. If you want to bring in more characters than you have controllers for, you need to be sure to play online splitscreen. You can hold down the XMB button and change your controller assignment for additional characters. keep in mind, though that if you do it "offline" it'll pause your game and it will not resume until you've reassinged a controller to each character you're bringing in. If you do it "online" it will not pause your game, so you can keep re-assigning controller numbers and your game will continue.

The game uses the D-Pad for hotkeying of any actions that are accessible via the wheel. If you want to change any of the default hot-keyed items, simply to go the item in the wheel you want to hotkey (it can be an ability or a type of defense) and hold down the direction of the D-pad you want that item hotkeyed to.

After you level up each time, if you go to the Tavernkeep, you can purchase additional XP towards your next level (for a fee of 70K mana). Go to the Tavernkeep and enter the menu. Press to go to the Services menu and there should be an option to purchase XP. This is also where you can RESPEC (redistribute your points) your hero for 100K mana.

If you have PS+, it is strongly recommend to MANUALLY back up your two save files regularly. DO NOT ENABLE the automatic backup for this game. There are multitudes of reports of this game's save file(s) getting corrupted, forcing people to start over from scratch. Furthermore, with the automatic backup enabled, if your corrupted save file gets uploaded to PS+ then your main save and your backup are also corrupted. I, myself, have never had any issues with my save files, but many people on the Trendy website report that they have.

Making good, effective builds takes time and practice. Trial and error is often the only way to get that "perfect" build. Keep in mind, though that there are multiple ways to build most maps, using a variety of defenses, so experiment and have fun. Here are some general building-related tips to consider.

Learn the enemy spawns and which defenses to use. To an extent, this involves knowing which types of enemies are coming out of which creep doors. This can directly affect which types of defenses you place, and where you place them.

For example, for spawn points where ogres often come out of, you'll certainly want to make sure you use Strength Drain auras to supplement your tower squires. Otherwise, the ogres will make quick work of your towers.

Another example is the Dark Elf Warriors (the ninja-esque guys with the two 'katana' blades). These guys will jump over your defenses and easily destroy them from the back, or even come after you, unless you deal with them properly. The best defense against these enemy types is to use the Ensnare aura. They may still be able to evade the defense and get around it, but there's less chance of it happening with the aura than without.

Wyverns can be tricky to deal with, depending on what you're doing. For example, when trying to attempt the survival trophies, especially the ones that require you reach wave 15 or 20, you can get into a situation where it's an ENDLESS stream of wyverns coming from various directions. You would think that using Harpoons would be ideal, but honestly, I'm a fan of using Slice-n-Dices to deal with Wyverns. Although they cost most defense units, they're more reliable since there's little chance of a Wyvern slipping by if they're well-placed. You'll see me use them in some of the videos later on in the guide. For the campaign, on lower difficulties, harpoons may be suitable. It's best to try out what you like and see what you feel comfortable with.

Study the enemy's pathfinding as it also directly affects where you can place your defenses. If you notice in the Glitterhelm Caverns videos later in the guide, in some of the wider corridors, I do not place my Slice-and-Dices towers right in the center, rather, I put them off to the side, closer to the wall. The reason for that is because the enemy pathfinding is, for the most part, consistent and I know the creeps will not purposely go around the tower--they'll walk right into it. Use the enemy AI to your advantage!

There are three types of builds you can make in Dungeon Defenders using the four classes. How you tailor them is completely up to you, but I'll describe my experiences, which you can use as a guide when leveling up your heroes.

Hybrid Build - A combination of the two builds. This build is used less often as the other two types.

DPS Builds -

Classes most often used for DPS builds are the Apprentice and the Huntress, most likely due to the fact that they have ranged damage. The Monk has ranged damage, but will not deal as much DPS as the Apprentice and Huntress.

When distributing your points, focus on the hero damage stat until you max it out at 120 points. If you're using a Huntress, once you've maxed out your hero damage stat, you should probably focus on maxing out your piercing shot special ability. The remaining points, you can distribute amongst hero health, speed, and casting rate as needed. If you're playing as an Apprentice, after maxing out your hero damage, you should probably invest in either the Mana Bomb ability, or the Overcharge ability.

Tower Builds -

Classes most often used for tower builds are the Squire and Monk, and sometimes the Huntress. Although his defenses have been nerfed, the Squire still probably has some of the most robust defenses, and most builds will center around his towers.

The Monk's auras serve as a very nice supplement to the Squire's towers, so you'll want to make sure you have a relatively high-level aura monk.

When leveling up, distribute your initial points into tower damage until it's capped at the 120 mark. After that's been maxed out, you should distribute additional points into tower health. How much you put into tower health is debateable. Some seem to think that by the time you hit 200 points, you get decreasing returns, so you're not getting as much "bang for your buck" as you do with the first 200 points. Since these are builders, you'll want to make sure that you do not neglect the hero casting rate, since it directly affects how quickly you can put up your towers. Distribute any remaining points into tower area of affect and speed, as necessary.

Dungeon Defenders features an, effectively, infinite amout of weapons and armor pieces. Part of its addictive nature is playing the game until you find that one piece of armor that you've been looking for for months. Armor consists of varying qualities and types. The quality of the armor piece is usually denoted by the first word of the item and the type is usually denoted by the second. So, for example, if the armor piece is a Godly Place Helmet, the "Godly" refers to the quality of the piece and the "Plate" refers to the type.

It's always desirable to seek out the best quality pieces, but it's not always practical or feasible. What's probably more important for starting players is to seek out armor pieces of the same type (e.g., Leather, Pristine, Chain, Mail, etc.). Once you have a complete set (head, chest, hands, feet) you get a bonus of approximately 30% to all of your stats. To check to see if your pieces match and you have a bonus, press and there should be a blue outline surrounding all your pieces as shown in the image below in the spoiler box.

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When choosing armor and how to upgrade it, study it first to see where it's strengths and weaknesses are. For example, if you have a tower builder in need of a particular piece. See which pieces you have that have all four tower stats present (tower health, damage, area of affect, and attack rate). Not all pieces have the same stats. The same thing applies when upgrading for DPS characters; make sure to choose pieces that have a hero damage stat. If there aren't any tower stats present, that's fine because it's not like you'll be building with a DPS character. It's up to the individual, but I also prefer not to have any pieces with any negative stats. You lose valueable points that way, and there are enough armor pieces in the game that you should be able to easily replace it with one with no negative stats. Always go to the Tavernkeep and see if your character needs respecing after changing armor pieces. Sometimes, you'll see unexpected changes in the distribution of your stats and you'll be forced to adjust them accordingly (e.g., you swap one helmet for another and while you gain hero damage points, you lose speed, so you'll have to reditribute your points to adjust for that change).

For detailed information on key weapons and armor stats, check the Weapons, Armor and Pets section at the end of the guide.

Dungeon Defenders boasts an equally infinite amount of pets, not in terms of types, but in terms of stats. Certain types of pets have special abilities which have situational usefulness (e.g., Guardians in Pure Strategy mode).

Fairies: provide the hero with HP on-the-fly when damage is taken

Genies: provide mana for each kill

Guardians: boost tower stats

Dragons/Tigers/Robots/Animi/etc.: Mainly damage-dealing pets

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See Catch 'em All for more information regarding pets/familiars and how to acquire them. For detailed information on key pets, check the Weapons, Armor and Pets section at the end of the guide.

Playthrough 1 - You'll probably want to start on Medium difficulty and play through the campaign to get a feel for the maps, where the enemy spawns will be, which types of enemies each map contains, and so forth. Make sure to pick up gear from fallen enemies and the treasure chests along the way as well as checking often at the Tavernkeep for items you can purchase. These aren't going to be pieces you'll end up using for the duration of the game. They're mostly for acquiring the upgrading-related trophies early on. It's much easier and cost-effective to upgrade low-level gear than high-level gear. During this playthrough, you should be able to unlock:Smithy, This Is My Weapon, Obedience Training, Pupil, Veteran, Defender of Etheria, From the Depths, To the Rooftops, A Taste of Victory, Dungeon Crawler , True Nobility, Master Banker, Good Student, O Might Smiter!, Divine Intention

Playthrough 2 - By this point, you should be a little bit more familiar with the maps and at least one or more of your heroes should be level 70 (or higher), assuming you played some maps using two controllers or you grinded some XP. This playthrough should be your Insane difficulty run of the campaign. Use the builds provided below as guides, and tweak them as you see fit, or to suit your play style. During this playthrough, you should be able to unlock:The Belly of the Beast, The Body of the Beast, The Crown of the Beast, Dungeon Raider, From Fire with Brimstone, Through the Crowded Keep, To the Lofty Summit, Dungeon Defender.

Clean up - At this point, the only campaign-related trophies you should be missing are the miscellaneous and awards ones. Replay The Summit to see the endings for any heroes you haven't done so already. Remember, for that you can replay on Easy and it will still count. Also, check your stats using the crystal in your tavern to see which maps you're missing the respective awards for. That way, you're not replaying all the maps, guessing which ones you need. You should be able to unlock:Perfectionist, Daredevil, Mastermind, Brute Force, Team Effort, A Matter of Perspective

The four survival trophies consist of reaching different waves at varying difficulties. These can be done on any map. Completing these should unlock:Survivalist, Thick Skin, Tough Guy, Iron Man

For the pure strategy trophy, you have to complete all the campaign maps on at least Medium difficulty in Pure Strategy mode. In pure strategy mode, your hero is limited in what they can do.

They cannot attack, at all, nor can their pet.

Repairs to towers can't be made to towers during the combat phase, only during the build phase.

Towers can be upgraded during combat, which will, essentially repair them. Keep in mind, towers can be upgraded a maximum of five times.

Although the Pure Strategy trophy, Defense Is the Best Office, only requires you to reach wave 10, if you reach wave 15 on each map, you're awarded with a pet, which you'll need for Catch 'em All (unless you're fortunate enough to have some friends lend you their pets for the trophy).

There is a challenge associated with each map in the game after you've cleared that map in the campaign. If your heroes are high-enough levels by now, you can attempt them on the Insane difficulty, eliminating the need to replay them later. However, if you find them too difficult on Insane by yourself, either find a friend to help you, or try to do them solo on lower difficulties to get a feel for the challenges. Some of them are a true test of skill (or luck). Here, you should be able to unlock the remaining trophies:Where's the Blueprints, Friends Forever, 88 Core, Ella, Ella, Wizard Hunter, You No Take Mushroom, Speed Freak, In a Fowl Mood, Core Cardio, Monster Mania , Core Destroyer , Gold Rush , Weapon Master , Kobold Exterminator , Monster Madness , Dancing in the Rain , Gold Blitz , Ogre Block Party , A Challenger Approaches

SmithyYou upgraded your first equipment. Keep it up!

This Is My WeaponYou upgraded an Equipment to its maximum potential!

This trophy is very simple to unlock. Choose a weapon or a piece of armor that has a small number of upgrades, 2-3 upgrades is fine. Go to the Tavernkeep or your forge and select your weapon, either from your item box, or from your hero if you have it equipped. Press and the item's menu will come up. Hold down to invest mana and when the meter is completely filled, select a stat to upgrade. Keep doing this until you've upgraded the weapon all the way and the trophy will unlock.

Obedience TrainingYou raised a Pet to its maximum potential!

This trophy is another easy one to unlock. When you have enough mana, purchase a pet from the shop, preferably one that has very few upgrades (2-3 upgrade levels) so it doesn't cost much to upgrade. Go to your pet (whether it's in the item box or on your hero) and select it by pressing to upgrade. Hold and invest mana in it until your upgrade meter is completely full, and then select a stat to upgrade. Repeat this until you've upgraded it completely and your trophy will unlock.

VeteranReached Hero Level 30.

Defender of EtheriaReached Hero Level 70.

This may or may not be a time-consuming task, depending on if you can get help and if you want to grind or play legitimately without grinding. To get to level 70, you'll need a little over 3 million XP. If you have a high-level friend that is willing to help out, you can be power-leveled to level 70 in a matter of approximately 30-40 minutes, on a good XP-giving map. If you're on your own, then it may take a little while to get to level 70 playing legitimately. You may want to consider grinding XP the last few levels to speed things up.

Considering you need to get one of each hero class to level 70, you'll probably want to familiarize yourself with at least one method of XP grinding, whichever is most comfortable for you. See Group Hug for explanations and videos on XP grinding methods.

To the LimitWore a complete set of maximum level Equipments.

To unlock this trophy, you'll need to have all your gear at maximum upgrade levels. This means all four pieces of armor, your pet, and your weapon. During the first few maps, you have plenty of opportunities to pick up random pieces of armor and weapons dropped from enemies. These pieces of armor usually have few upgrade levels. Any pieces that have two or three upgrades this will work just fine. In fact, anything that has a minimum of two upgrades will work; they do not have to have incredibly high upgrade levels for this trophy. To acquire a pet, just play through the early levels and save up your mana. A cheap pet will cost you a few thousand mana (roughly 7K-10K). Once you have enough mana, go to the Tavernkeep and purchase a pet.

Once you have your armor, pet, and weapon, simply upgrade all your items to their maximum levels at the tavern keep or the defender's forge. Once everything's fully upgraded, equip your gear to unlock the trophy.

If you haven't already done so, this will also unlock Smithy, This is My Weapon and Obedience Training

From Fire with BrimstoneCompleted all Area 1 levels on Insane.

To unlock this trophy, complete all Area 1 maps on Insane difficulty or higher. Area 1 consists of:

The Deeper Well

Foundries and Forges

Magus Quarters

Alchemical Laboratory

I've posted videos below of builds you can use to complete each level. These were done on Insane difficulty. Although my heroes are much higher level, these builds should suffice for a hero that's level 70. Remember, this is no single right or wrong way to build your defenses, which is one of the great things about Dungeon Defenders. With that said, you may use any build you want; these are merely to serve as guides.

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Through the Crowded KeepCompleted all Area 2 levels on Insane.

To unlock this trophy, complete all Area 2 maps on Insane difficulty or higher. Area 2 consists of:

Servants Quarters

Castle Armory

Hall of Court

The Throne Room

I've posted videos below of builds you can use to complete each level. These were done on Insane difficulty. Although my heroes are much higher level, these builds should suffice for a hero that's level 70. Remember, this is no single right or wrong way to build your defenses, which is one of the great things about Dungeon Defenders. With that said, you may use any build you want; these are merely to serve as guides.

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To the Lofty SummitCompleted all Area 3 levels on Insane.

To unlock this trophy, complete all Area 3 maps on Insane difficulty or higher. Area 3 consists of:

Royal Gardens

The Ramparts

Endless Spires

The Summit

I've posted videos below of builds you can use to complete each level. These were done on Insane difficulty. Although my heroes are much higher level, these builds should suffice for a hero that's level 70. Remember, this is no single right or wrong way to build your defenses, which is one of the great things about Dungeon Defenders. With that said, you may use any build you want; these are merely to serve as guides.

Where's the Blueprints?Completed No Towers Allowed on at least Medium Difficulty.

Unlikely Allies takes place on the Foundries and Forges map, and has you protect, of all things, an Ogre. There are a couple of dynamics that make this challene a little bit difficult, but it shouldn't be overwhelming. For one, you only have 45 defense units, so you have to be particular about which defenses to use. Also, although the ogre spawns where the crystal would be, he will aggro and start moving as the enemies start approaching him get closer, so he needs to be watched. There are a variety of builds that can be used for this challenge. To keep the other from moving, it may be a good idea to build your defenses closer to the creep doors rather than closer to the ogre. Also, keep in mind, the ogre can (and will) move certain defenses from their position. One build you could possibly use is to place bouncing blockades on the narrow side stairs leading away from each spawn point, or on the larger center stairs, and accompany those with a harpoon turret. Alternatively, to avoid having the ogre move defenses, and assuming you have a trap huntress available, you can lay down traps on the narrow side stairs leading up from the enemy spawns. Traps will obviously require you to do more killing, but as I said earlier, this challenge isn't overwhelming for high-level players.

A Soul Focuser is a good weapon to consider for this challenge as you may not always be near the ogre if it aggros and walks towards enemies. Also, keep watch of the middle spawn point, as enemy ogres will spawn out of those doors during the last two waves.

88 CoreCompleted Warping Core on at least Medium Difficulty.

This challenge takes place on the Magus Quarters map. The crystal starts in the usual position, right in the center of the map. Every so often, throughout each wave, it teleports to a different point on the map; sometimes, it remains in the same spot. There are six different spots that the crystal can teleport to. Aside from the spawn point, the crystal can teleport to the three spots at the bottom of each stairs leading down from the center, and at the two lower platforms by the lava on each side of the map.

Because of the teleporting nature of the crystal, an ideal weapon for this challenge is probably the Soul Focuser, which is rewarded for completing the Alchemical Laboratory campaign map on Insane difficulty with a Huntress. The Soul Focuser can shoot through walls, eliminating the need for line-of-sight when the crystal is in a precarious spot and you can't quickly reach it.

Aside from the crystal moving to certain spots, the only other significant danger comes in the form of an ogre during the next-to-last wave. Setting up the build should only take two waves. By the third wave, you should be able to swap your builder for your DPS character, and just keep a look out for where the crystal warps and when the ogre spawns. Other than that, this challenge is relatively straightforward.

Ella, EllaCompleted Raining Goblins on at least Medium Difficulty.

Wizard HunterCompleted Wizardry on at least Medium Difficulty.

This is going to be one of the harder challenges in the game, if you're ill-prepared. This challenge takes place on the Servants Quarters map. The challenge consists of nothing but Dark Elf mages (the necromancer wizards that spawn skeletons) spawning from the creep doors. During the combat phase, only two of the mages are vulnerable to damage, while the rest of the mages are invulnerable.

Killing one of the vulnerable ones makes another random mage vulnerable. You complete each wave by killing the alloted number of vulnerable mages. The build for this challenge should be as simple as possible, but should be able to withstand some damage. It may require some trial and error (or some luck). Spike blockades and harpoon turrets are often a good choice. Using traps can also be effective. Placing an inferno, along with a mine or gas trap at each spawn should, in theory, take care of the vulnerable mages as they spawn.

This challenge is probably best done with 3-4 people, and as far as weapons, you don't need to deal a huge amount of damage so the Soul Focuser is probably ideal. It allows you to not have to travel far, all the while allowing you to target various mages very quickly, while you search for the one or two that can take damage.

While it isn't pretty, the video below shows the challenge, with four peolpe. Luckily, this challenge doesn't have as many waves as the other challenges do.

Speed FreakCompleted Zippy Terror on at least Medium Difficulty.

In a Fowl MoodCompleted Chicken on at least Medium Difficulty.

This challenge may prove a bit difficult, but shouldn't be too tough. Ideally, the more people you have, the better. While playing solo isn't impossible, it does add to the difficulty. This challenge takes place on the Throne Room map. Essentially, during the combat phase of each wave, players alternate being the "chicken" for a brief duration. If you're playing solo, then it's only you as the chicken, but you still get some time during the combat phase when you're not, so don't be completely alarmed. As the "chicken" you are not allowed to jump, and your HP is reduced to 1. You are allotted a certain amount of lives. Each time you die, one life is used up. To complete the challenge, simply survive. Even if you finish the challenge on your last life, it will count. As a build, the usual campaign build for the Throne Room should suffice.

Core CardioCompleted Moving Core on at least Medium Difficulty.

This challenge shouldn't prove too difficult to complete. It takes place on the Royal Gardens map. There will be a single eternia crystal on the map. The crystal will continuously move along a set path throughout the map. The most difficult aspect of this challenge is that the crystal, often times, moves extremely close to enemy spawn points, leaving it vulnerable to attack if left unattended. This challenge is certainly easiest done with at least two people; one person can build the defenses while the other person babysits the crystal. The campaign build set up should suffice for this map.

Monster ManiaCompleted Death From Above on at least Medium Difficulty.

Core DestroyerCompleted Assault on at least Medium Difficulty.

This challenge puts you in a role reversal of sorts. It takes place on part of the Endless Spires map, and has you maneuver through a series of defenses with the goal being you destroying three Eternia crystals placed on the map. As an added challenge, your hero's HP has been reduced, so you can't take too much damage before dying. If you do die, you get to respawn at the beginning of the stage and have to go through the course again, but any defenses you've destroyed will remain destroyed. The more players you have in your lobby, the less available lives you have to respawn. If you have a full lobby, there is no respawning as you have zero lives available, so keep that in mind.

The best "vanilla" weapon for this challenge is probably the Crystal Tracker, with its good splash damage, which you receive as a reward for completing the Warping Core on Insane difficulty. See 88 Core on obtaining the Crystal Tracker. If you're fortunate enough to have the opportunity to acquire a Shai Hulud, which is a DLC weapon (Moraggo Desert Town), that's probably the only other weapon that's just as effective if not more so than the Tracker.

The first two crystal are fairly easy to get to and destroy. The last crystal is usually the one that provides the most challenge. Also keep in mind that the map allows for a couple of different routes you can take so experiment to see which route suits you best.

The video below shows two methods of destroying the third crystal. The first method is the "brute force" way where you can just shoot your way through all the defenses and creeps. This should only be attempted if you have a weapon capable of high damage. At approximately the 1:30 mark, you can see the alternate way of destroying the last crystal. My jump in the video is a bit sloppy, but you can see that you can make a series of well-placed jumps and avoid the defenses altogether, allowing you to quickly destroy the crystal for the victory.

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Gold RushCompleted Treasure Hunt on at least Medium Difficulty.

A Challenger ApproachesCompleted All Challenges on INSANE Difficulty!

To unlock this trophy, you will have to complete all of the challenges, as listed below, on Insane difficulty. See the individual trophies for each challenge (where applicable) for additional information on each.

Weapon MasterCompleted No Towers Allowed on Insane Difficulty.

This challenge, for the most part, can be fairly easy to complete. The challenge is played on The Deeper Well map. You have zero defense units available to you, so you cannot build any towers, hence the name of the challenge. Ideally, you'll want a minimum of two DPS heroes. If you have more, then the challenge becomes easier. Assuming there are only two of you, there are two main choke points in the map right at the top of the stairs closest to the crystal on both sides. Each person should cover a side so that you can be able to shoot down the stairs from where a group of enemies will be coming, but also along the upper level as well, since enemies will spawn out of the far door. Equipping a damage-dealing pet will also help with this challenge. Of the vanilla weapons for the huntress, the Crystal Tracker, Blasticus, or Soul Focuser will probably serve you best. See 88 Core and Core Destroyer on how to obtain the Crystal Tracker and Blasticus, respectively. The Soul Focuser is awarded after completing Alchemical Laboratory on Insane difficulty or higher with a Huntress.

Kobold ExterminatorCompleted Zippy Terror on Insane Difficulty.

This challenge is very similar to No Towers Allowed in nature, and it's difficulty is related to how many people you have to help you. Ideallyl, with 4 players, this challenge is very easy. This challenge takes place on the Hall of Court map. It features nothing but Kobolds (the little guys that run around with dynamite strapped to their back) spawning from the various spawn points on the map. Like with No Towers Allowed, you have zero defense units available, so it's all up to your heroes. The best set up is to have four heroes, two in the front and two in the back. Each hero can guard their particular corner, and rain down on any approaching Kobolds. A good "vanilla" weapon to use for this challenge is the Crystal Tracker as it has good splash damage. Aside from that, having a pet that does damage may not hurt, although it'll probably have to be a pet that does considerable damage, such as an animus. Survive to the end, and the trophy will unlock.

Monster MadnessCompleted Death From Above on Insane Difficulty.

This challenge takes place on the map The Ramparts. Except for the occassional ogre, the only enemies you'll encounter will be Wyverns of varying sizes. Aside from the usual ones you see during the campaing, you'll also encounter yourself with smaller versions, mini-wyverns, that are much quicker, and Super wyverns, which are the extremely large variety. The wyverns will come from three directions--the two directions they come from during the campaign, and in addition, from the side of the map where the large ballista is located. You'll want to use defenses such as slice and dices because during the later waves, harpoons will not be enough to keep up with the number of wyverns that appear. Each wave, you'll have a couple of ogres spawn--one from the south side and one from the north side, so be sure to account for them (or be ready to take them out quickly if you don't want to waste defense units on them). As long as your heroes are high level and have good stats, this challenge shouldn't present too much trouble.

Dancing in the RainCompleted Raining Goblins on Insane Difficulty.

This challenge is actually not too difficult, and has a very easy setup which only requires your Squire. You'll want to make sure you have a DPS avaialbe to switch to after you've completed your build. Once the map starts, go collect all the mana and head towards the crystal. Starting from the back, construct a barrier of bouncing blockades surrounding the crystal. Try to make sure you don't leave any gaps between the blockades where creeps can squeeze by. You can test it yourself by trying to walk through.

You will not have enough mana to complete the barrier during the first wave, so get your DPS out (either by switching heroes or using a second controller) for this first part. Complete the first wave of combat, and once you have enough mana, use the second wave's build phase to complete the circle. For the remainder of the challenge, you'll want to stay in this enclosed area. Good weapons to use are the Soul Focuser and the Crystal Tracker. Also, don't forget about your piercing shot. For the earlier waves, try to keep your blockades repaired and, if possible, do not upgrade them until you reach the later waves (8 and 9). If you upgrade them too quickly and they start getting destroyed, it'll take too long to repair them and if too many blockades go down, you'll surely fail the challenge. Complete the challenge to unlock the trophy.

Gold BlitzCompleted Treasure Hunt on Insane Difficulty.

This challenge takes place on map The Summit. The aim of this challenge it to located gold-colored enemies amongst the mobs; when killed, these enemies drop gold mana tokens. Each wave, you have to collect a certain amount of mana tokens to complete the challenge, otherwise, the enemies will spawn infinitely. NOTE: You DO NOT get XP for kills, so this is not a way to grind XP. One good thing about this challenge is that there are no wyverns, so all your defense units can be concentrated on the ground. You can use the campaign set up and modify it, putting extra defenses on the ground. Having more people for this challenge makes it a little easier since more ground can be covered and you don't risk missing out on gold tokens, but even solo, this challenge shouldn't be too difficult to complete. Complete it and the trophy will unlock.

Ogre Block PartyCompleted Ogre Crush on Insane Difficulty.

This challenge takes place on the map Castle Armory. The only types of enemies you'll encounter are ogres for this challenge. Each wave, an increasing number of ogres will spawn from each door. Assuming you have a decent squire, a decent monk, and a decent DPS character, this challenge shouldn't prove to difficult. Ogres during the first and second wave will only spawn from the "top" of the map. Additional waves will have them spawning from the "bottom" of the map. Set up squire towers (some sort of blockade and harpoons) at the respective spawns and supplement them with a minimum of a strength drain aura. Once you've finished your build, switch to your DPS character and just go around killing the ogres as they spawn, repairing/upgrading when necessary. Assuming your strength drain auras can hold off the ogres from destroying your towers each wave, this challenge should be fairly simple to complete.

If you're having trouble completing the challenge using a conventional build, there's a nice tactic you can use to make things much easier. At each of the ogre spawns, lay down spike blockades but TURN THEM AROUND so that the spikes are facing away from the ogres. Behind the blockades put down your harpoon turrets. Since the ogres are not taking damage from the blockades, they should not aggro, leaving them to just stand there while your harpoons take them out. They may throw the occassional snot ball, but they should not swing at any of your defenses. If they're swinging, it could be your harpoons are too close, so move them back a bit.

SurvivalistReached Survival Wave 15 on Medium Difficulty.

Thick SkinReached Survival Wave 20 on Medium Difficulty.

Although you'll be aiming to do this trophy on Medium difficulty, the trouble with this trophy is that in the past it has caused consoles to freeze due to the demand the game is placing on it. During the last few waves, the enemies number in the thousands ... literally. As far as which map is best is debateable. However, what can be agreed upon is that it's probably best to attemp to do this trophy on one of the Area 1 maps. Each map has it's pros and cons.

The Deeper Well - The enemy count will probably be lowest here. However, the fact that you only get 60 defense units really hinders your build. It's somewhat hard to contain the mob, especially during the later waves when you have more and more of the tougher enemies like Dark Elf Warriors.

Foundries and Forges - This map will allow you to have 20 more defense units available than The Deeper Well, but obviously your enemy count will be higher and you'll encounter ogres on this map.

Magus Quarters - This map is nice because it's small and compact, and you essentially have 3 main choke points, all which lead to the center. one of the major downfalls is that Wyverns spawn from the Southwestern and Southeastern points of the map. During the later waves, it's almost a non-stop stream of Wyverns, so your defenses will have to be top-notch. This level will also contain some ogres. As a side note, this is the map I did my 20 waves on.

Alchemical Laboratory - One of the major advantages to this level is that no ogres or wyverns spawn. However, it'll probably produce the highest count of enemies of the four levels, and you actually get 5 fewer Defense Units than Magus Quarters. I know of people that have completed their 20 waves on this map.

Here are some general tips and advice to consider:

As far as builds go, you can try to use the campaign builds and see if they hold up. You may not want to rely as much on auras and traps because they'll certainly require much more maintenance than non-depleting defenses, so try to use them only if necessary.

If you're up for it, you can start as far up as wave 8 on any of the maps, eliminating the need to do some of the earlier waves. keep in mind, though, that the starting mana does not change, so you'll have more (and possibly harder) enemies to contend with, but you'll have to work your build up to full capacity.

If you're concerned about your console locking up, one thing you can do is to eliminate the kill counter in the bottom right-hand corner. The issue with the kill counter is that it can't keep up with the number of enemies dying during the waves, so while you may be on wave 10, it may still be registering kills that occured during wave 8. This has caused problems for people because they reach wave 20 and it doesn't register for them. To eliminate the kill counter, you'll need to do as follows:

Load up your map of choice, with your non-builder (your DPS) as your main character.

Start the combat phase. If you notice there's no kill counter in the bottom right-hand corner, then you've done everything correctly.

This trophy will take a considerable amount of time, regardless of which map you chose to do it on. Be prepared to spend several hours working on this trophy. Alchemical Laboratory can probably be done in 3-5 hours, depending on tower placement and how quickly you and your towers can kill enemies.

Tough GuyReached Survival Wave 15 on Hard Difficulty.

Being that this requires Hard difficulty, it shouldn't prove too difficult. What's going to make this trophy a pain is having to get to wave 15 because it takes a considerable amount of time. Load up a map of your of choice, the one you feel most comfortable with, and set up your defenses as usual. See Thick Skin for some general tips regarding survival trophies.

Iron ManReached Survival Wave 10 on Insane Difficulty.

Although this trophy requires you to play on Insane difficulty, it's actually not as bad as it sounds since you only have to reach wave 10. Simply load up a map you feel really comfortable with, and set up your defenses as usual. See Thick Skin for some general tips regarding survival trophies.

Defense Is the Best OffenseReached Wave 10 on all levels in Pure Strategy on at least Medium Difficulty.

Pure Strategy mode will almost certainly test your build mechanics. In this mode, your towers have to do all the heavy lifting, there is no player interaction with enemies. In fact, you're non-existent to the creeps as you can literally walk right through them (and your towers).

The key to surviving pure strategy is to have a sound build that takes into account every single possible enemy. For the most part, you can use the builds that I show for the campaign maps. Everyone's experience is different, so you may encounter that you get a rogue enemy that repeatedly doesn't follow the path marking. Keep in mind that although this trophy only requires reaching wave 10, if you have the time and patience, you may want to continue until you reach wave 15 on each map where you'll be rewarded with a pet that goes toward the Catch 'em All trophy. Here are some general tips for completing pure strategy.

If you have any available to you, Guardian-type pets, or familiars as they're called, are the best to use for Pure Strategy as they directly affect your defenses. Keep in mind, though, that they only affect one tower at a time. They're useful mostly for situations where you have one of the tougher enemies (e.g., an Ogre) and you want to make sure he's dealt with as quickly as possible.

Apprentice Guardian - Boosts your defense's base damage

Squire Guardian - Boosts your defense's health

Huntress Guardian - Boosts your defense's attack rate

Monk Guardian - Boosts your defense's area of effect

Keep in mind that the only way you can repair towers during the combat phase is to upgrade them, but you can only upgrade a tower a maximum of five times before it has to be sold and rebuilt. During the earlier waves, this shouldn't be a problem, but during the later waves, the enemies number in the thousands. If you upgrade everything too quickly and run out of upgrades, your tower may get destroyed. If you see a tower already has a 3-4 upgrades on it, consider selling it and rebuilding a fresh tower before the next combat phase, thereby replenishing the amount of times you can upgrade during the combat phase.

Every once in a while, you get something unexpected that happens, so prepare for contingencies. For example, bouncing blockade towers, for the most part, can kill lower-level enemies with one hit. Every so often, though, one survives, and because of the bouncing effect of the tower, it throws the enemy into a place on the map you didn't expect. If your crystal is defenseless against this rogue enemy, the wave is lost since there's no way to kill him. That being said, I tend to always keep a last line of defense (even if it's just a single harpoon) in case of emergencies. Alternatively, you can place a different type of defense to alleviate the problem (e.g., replace the bouncing blockade with a Slice-n-Dice). As I've said, DunDef allows for a variety of builds and options.

Some enemies that may cause problems in Pure Strategy are those with ranged attacks such as mages and archers. Archers will not always come into range of some of your defeses (primarily blockades and bowling ball turrets) and will shoot from a distance. They may eventually move into range and get hit and die, but it may take a while. Similarly, mages will stand out of range of defenses and keep reviving skeletons.

NOTE: After you've reached whichever wave you intend to reach (wave 10 for this trophy, or wave 15 for Catch 'em All) DO NOT simply quit the map via the menu as this will void it. What you want to do is during the next build phase, sell a few of your defenses and let the creeps destroy the crystal and let the map finish on its own that way. Just to be on the safe side, although the trophy says to reach wave 10, I would always finish wave 10 up and allow the creeps to destroy my crystal during the combat phase of wave 11; that's up to you, though.

True NobilityEarned the Lord Award on at least Medium Difficulty.

The Lord Award requires you to kill 50 enemies within 5 seconds. Although the trophy description says you can do it on at least Medium difficulty, it's probably easier on the higher difficulties since enemies move faster out of the creep door, allowing for more enemies on the map at one time. I got this trophy without even trying, so I doubt it'll be much trouble for anyone. Kills by towers count, so you will most likely get this fairly easily on one of the Area 3 maps on the higher difficulties, if not sooner, assuming you build the map. However, if you find yourself having difficulty building, one method you could use is to get out a DPS character, say a Huntress, and start a map on Insane difficulty and try to kill as many enemies as quickly as possible, making good use of your Piercing Shot ability. You can also try to use the Apprentice's Mana Bomb ability.

O Mighty Smiter!Wore a full set of Godly Items.

For this trophy, you'll need to acquire a set of Godly armor of the same type (e.g., chain, leather, mail). You need to be hero level 50 in order to equip any type of Godly armor. You can acquire Godly armor either through:

Treasure chests (usually have to play Area 3 maps for Godly items)

From a friend

Purchasing it from the Tavernkeep.

The armor does not have to be upgraded in order to unlock the trophy. Simply equip a full set (head, chest, feet, and hands) of Godly armor of the same type, and the trophy should unlock.

PerfectionistEarned the Flawless Victory Award on all missions on at least Normal Difficulty.

To earn the Flawless Victory Award, you must make sure that none of your crystals take any damage after the first wave; any damage taken during the first wave is fine and will not negate the award. Since the trophy says it has to be on at least Normal difficulty, and I recommend that you do the first playthrough on the Medium difficulty, it may be a good idea to try to get the Flawless Victory Award for each map at that time.

At any point, you can check your crystal in the tavern to see which maps you still need the award for and complete them. Assuming you have high-level characters, this should not be difficult on Medium difficulty with a decent build as the enemies aren't as aggressive and have less HP and deal less damage than higher difficulties. Also, this trophy has a bit of a luck aspect to it. Even if your defenses are solid, a stray projectile may hit the crystal from enemies such as archers, ogres, or wyverns. Often times, this is unavoidable, so be prepared to replay a map or two if this happens.

DaredevilEarned Skin of Your Teeth Award on 6 Missions.

You earn the Skin of Your Teeth Award for finishing a wave with the crystal having less than 100 HP after the first wave, on at least Medium difficulty. Although you can do it on any map, it's probably easiest to do it on the first 6 maps. Build your defenses as usual. Choose any particular wave other than the first one, and as the wave is about to finish and you only have a few enemies left, sell some of your defenses so that they can reach a crystal. Kill all but a couple of the enemies and let them hit the crystal. Stay close so you can see how much HP it has. Once the HP drops below 100, kill the creeps to finish off the wave. From there, just finish off the level as usual. Don't worry about the crystal, as it has its HP completely restored at the end of each wave on Medium difficulty. Make sure to check your stats at the end of the level at the crystal to make sure you received the award. Do this on 6 separate maps and the trophy should unlock.

MastermindEarned the Master Strategist Award on all Missions.

To earn the Master Strategist Award, ensure that your hero accumulates kills via towers only. Any kills by your hero or a pet will negate this trophy. What makes this trophy somewhat difficult is that most maps require the use of a DPS charater to take out enemies like ogres, or bosses. This trophy is not as bad as it sounds, though, as there are a couple of workarounds. The easiest one is to play with a buddy and have them equip their DPS character while you set up at least one defense and make sure you do not kill anything with your hero. If you don't have anyone that can help, you can use a second controller and play as one of your DPS characters with that controller. Use your first controller to build and use your second controller to do your DPS killing, and you'll still receive the award. Keep in mind a couple of things:

You must register at least one kill each wave with your towers; this is almost inevitable except for the earlier maps where a good DPS character can kill all the enemies before they even reach your defenses.

It's best not to have any damage-dealing pets, just in case, so leave them at home.

This has to be done on Medium difficulty or higher.

Hero kills during the first wave do not count against this trophy.

At any point, you can check your crystal in the tavern to see which maps you still need the award for and complete them.

Brute ForceEarned the Gunslinger Award on all Missions.

To earn the Gunslinger Award, ensure that you accumulate kills via your hero only. Use of non-damaging towers (e.g., ensnare aura) does not negate this trophy. The easiest way to do this trophy is to have a buddy build the maps while you DPS. If you don't have anyone that can help, you can use a second controller and play as one of your builders with that controller. Use your first controller to accumulate your DPS kills and use your second controller to do your building, and you'll still receive the award. Just keep in mind You must register at least one kill each wave with your hero in order to unlock the trophy. At any point, you can check your crystal in the tavern to see which maps you still need the award for and complete them.

Team EffortCompleted all levels with 4 active players on at least Medium Difficulty.

This trophy simply requires you to complete each map with four 'active' players. If you have 3 buddies that are willing to run through the maps with you, then that's perfect. If not, here are some alternatives.

You can try to join public lobbies. Keep in mind, though, the DunDef community is plagued with people that can (and will) kick people from their lobbies for no reason at all, so I suggest you use this as a last resort.

Alternatively, you can try to open a public lobby of your own and hope random players join you. Often times, if they see that they're a much higher level than you, and that you're having trouble, they're willing to lend a hand. Alternatively, if you're a high level, often times lower-level players will join you in hopes of you helping them through a few maps.

Don't be mislead by the word 'active'. I was missing one map from completing this trophy, and I had two other people with me in my lobby. I loaded up one of my characters for the last wave and left it AFK and it still counted.

You don't necessarily have to have 4 players for the entire duration. As long as you have 4 players that join during the build phase of the last wave and complete the map, you're fine.

At any point, you can check your crystal in the tavern to see which maps you still need the Teamwork Award for and complete them.

A Matter of PerspectiveSaw all four Hero endings.

To unlock this trophy, you don't need to replay the whole campaign, simply the last map The Summit. Additionally, you can replay the map on the Easy difficulty, which I HIGHLY recommend, making this trophy relatively simple, especially if you don't have a DPS character for a particular class whose ending you need to see. The reason for this is because you, or someone else in your lobby, needs to strike the killing blow on the boss with the hero whose ending you intend on watching. If you have a builder, you can always RESPEC them to a DPS character for the purposes of completing this trophy, and RESPEC them back to normal after completing this.

Simply take your chosen hero (e.g., if you need to watch the monk's ending, then kill the boss with a monk) and complete the map, watch the ending cutscene, rinse and repeat. The map takes around 25 minutes to complete so it can easily be done in a couple of hours for all four heros. Make sure to keep a record of which hero endings you've seen as it's not tracked in-game.

NOTE: It's debatable whether or not you have to watch the entire ending cutscene for the ending to count. Some report that you have to, where as I know I cut at least one ending movie short and still got awarded the trophy. The ending cut scene is about a minute or two long, so it's probably best to be safe and watch the whole thing rather than spend another 25 minutes replaying the map.

Group HugRaised a Hero of each type to Level 70.

The most time-effective method of grinding XP for mid-range players is to play The Ramparts map repeatedly either on Hard or Insane difficulty. The map is relatively small for a Area 3 map (a map with 3 crystals), but gives decent XP. If you can complete the map on Hard difficulty withouth having the crystal take damage and without taking hero damage, thereby receiving the respective point multipliers, you can easaily get 250K-300K XP. If you can manage to complete it on Insane difficulty, you can easily net 500K-600K XP. This method is probably the easiest for those starting out (e.g., a player that has a decent builder and a fairly good DPS). You can play the map with two controllers, one being your builder and the other being your DPS. Start the map with your builder and finisht he build during the first 2-3 waves. Once your build is finished, sit your builder to the side and take your DPS character and finish out the map, killing the Ogres that spawn on the lower bridge.

Although it is more challenging, you can also do the Glitterhelm Caverns map on Hard or Insane difficulty for decent XP. On Hard, you can use a pure Squire build and complete the map for approximately 800K XP. If you can manage it on Insane difficulty, and receive the "no damage" multipliers for yourself and the crystals, you can net anywhere from 1.5 - 2 million XP with a decent build.

The Ramparts

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Glitterhelm Caverns

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To unlock this trophy, you'll have to acquire the following 18 types of pets/familiars. I say 'types' because the pet doesn't necessarily have to be named as indicated below. For example, a tiger-type pet can be named Symba, and it'll still count toward the trophy. The unlocking conditions are show for each pet. In addition to this, after successful completion of each map or challenge, the Tavernkeep has a different set of pets/familiars for sale. Keep in mind that the pets that the Tavernkeep has for sale are random and are in no way associated with completing any particular map or challenge. If you have a friend that is willing to lend you any pets/familiars you need, that should work as well for purposes of unlocking the trophy.

Master BankerStored 15,000,000 Mana in your Mana Bank.

This trophy isn't very difficult at all, assuming you can find the right type of weapon and have a couple of million mana already in your bank so you can invest in a weapon.

Essentially, there are two types of weapons you want to use for this. The first is a weapon that has a decent number of upgrades (e.g., 27^) and has a good elemental damage starting stat (e.g., 150+). Three good weapons to use are: 1) Malficer's Rapier, which is awarded for beating the Demon Lord (Alchemical Laboratory) with a Squire on Insane; or 2) High Five, which is awarded for beating the Ogre Crush challenge on Medium/Hard, and 3) Flamewarder which is awarded for beating the Ancient Dragon (The Summit) on any difficulty with the Squire.

The second type of weapon, which is more profitable, is an apprentice's staff with at least 40^ and and at least +1 charge speed bonus. These can be found randomly on certain maps, usually the tier 3 ones, or often can be purchased from the Tavern keeper.

Once youv'e acquired your weapon, Invest in the weapon and put all the points into the elemental damage (if you have the squire weapons) or charge speed bonus (if you have the Apprentice weapon), and the value of that weapon will increase exponentially. Once you've fully upgraded your weapon (or upgraded until it's worth 200,000,000 mana, since that's the max allowed in your bank at one time), simply sell it from your inventory, and collect the mana.

How many weapons you need to reach 15,000,000 will depend on how many upgrades each weapon has, and the starting elemental damage stat/charge speed bonus stat. An apprentice staff with 40^ will easily yield 200,000,000. Elemental damage weapons probably won't be as profitable, so you may need to use a couple.

Good StudentCompleted the Tutorial. You deserve a cookie!

After creating your initial character, you'll be presented with the option of going through the tutorial. You'll have two options for the tutorial. The short version, and the long version. In order to unlock the trophy, you need to play through the long version, which is an interactive tutorial that has you playing through the first level, The Deeper Well. Play through the tutorial and at the end, the in-game achievement will unlock, along with your first trophy. Remember, choosing the short version will NOT unlock the trophy. If you happen to choose the short version, or skip the tutorial altogether, simply go to the in-game pause menu and reset the tutorial. Quit the game and restart it and you'll be prompted again to play through the tutorial.

Dungeon Defenders allows for you to tailor your heroes any way you want. There are some staple-type builds around the community, which I'll touch upon in this section. This is merely to serve as a guide; you can distribute points to your heroes any way you want, use your equipment any way you want, and so forth. I'll show below the builds that I most often use, along with some explanation.

The stats below are the total points when you combine the points you get from your heroe stats and your equipment. For example, assume you put maximum hero points (120 points) into tower health. Additionally, you have a helmet that provides an additional 50 points to tower health. Your total tower health will be 170. You can get additional points from your armor, weapon, and pet. Certain pets and weapons are geared more so to specific types of character builds, so be sure to consider the starting stats of your pets and/or weapons before upgrading them.blankline

This is my powerhouse builder. All my builds revolve around the squire's defenses, which are very robust across different builds. When leveling my squire, I distributed my points so that the total (equipment points + hero points) ended up in the following range(s):

Tower Health: 180-200

Tower Damage: As high as possible, while keeping the others stats within respective ranges

Tower Area of Affect: 50-75

Tower Attack Rate: 70+

Hero Speed: 50-70

Hero Casting Rate: 70-100

Tyipcally, you get decreasing marginal returns to tower health when you go above 200, so your points can be best spent elsewhere, hence why I have tower health at 190 for my Squire. Since this is my tower squire, I want my tower damage to be as high as possible. Although this stat, like health, has decreasing marginal returns, it's still the stat that matters most in this case, so I want it as high as possible. How high you want your area of affect is debateable, and subject to how comfortable you are with your stats. For example, often times, if you place a harpoon in a specific area and its range is too large, it'll attack enemies that it "thinks" are in range in another part of the map, instead of focusing on the enemies you positioned it to primarily attack. Trial and error is probably the best way to determine optimal tower area of affect for your particular builder. Hero speed should be generous since Insane difficulty is timed and you don't want your hero to be so slow that you have trouble finishing your build in a reasonable time. The same thing goes for Hero casting rate, since it directly affects how quickly you put up your towers.

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My Huntress is one of my two DPS characters. They will do most of the "heavy lifting" when the more difficult-to-kill enemies (e.g., Ogres) and bosses show up. When leveling my Huntress, I distributed my points so that the total (equipment points + hero points) ended up in the following range(s):

Hero Health: Varying

Hero Damage: As high as possible, while keeping the others stats within respective ranges

Hero Speed: 50-70

Hero Casting Rate: 70-100

Piercing Shot Ability: As high as possible, while keeping the others stats within respective ranges

When starting to level the Huntress, you'll want to put all of your points into hero damage until it caps out at 120. After that, start putting your points into the piercing shot ability as it will deal a large amount of damage and will be good to have when you're out Ogre hunting. After the damage-related stats are taken care of, I start putting points into hero speed and casting rate until they're at decent levels. Any remaining points, I put into hero health. Hero speed and casting rate (even on DPS builds) are important for a couple of reasons. Speed is a necessity because some of the larger maps require you to be able to get from one side of the map to the other relatively quickly before any of the larger enemies have time to destroy your defenses. I try to keep my heroes around 70. However, in the screenshot below (and in some of the others), it's higher because I never bothered RESPECing after I upgraded my armor. If your speed is a little above 70 that's fine. Too much higher and it's just wasted points. Casting rate is useful on DPS builds for repairing and upgrading defenses. You're useless in combat if you spend most of your time baby-sitting towers. You want to be able to repair/upgrade and go!

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My Monk is my other primary builder aside from my Squire. More than anything, his auras are used to supplement the Squire's defenses. When leveling my Monk, I distributed my points so that the total (equipment points + hero points) ended up in the following range(s):

Aura Health: 180-200

Aura Damage: As high as possible, while keeping the others stats within respective ranges

Aura Radius: 80-100

Aura Affect Speed: 100-120

Hero Speed: 50-70

Hero Casting Rate: 70-100

The Monk can be leveled up similarly to the Squire. Most points early on should be put into aura damage until it's maxed out. Similarly to the Squire's towers, there are decreasing returns to aura health, so I usually keep it within the 180-200 range. The radius can be adjusted to suit your needs. Having too small a radius may make it so your auras don't cover enough ground to be effective. Too large a radius may have a couple of effects. For one, two of the same type of aura cannot intersect, so you may find it difficult to place similar auras close together on smaller maps. Second, auras that are too large cover too much ground, and the more enemies that are caught in the aura, the quicker it depletes. For me, an aura radius of 100 suits me just fine. Play around with what you feel is comfortable for you. You don't want your auras to be too small nor too large. The affect speed can be tinkered with. When playing maps, observe if your auras die quickly. If they do, perhaps your affect speed is too high, and should be lowered. If you find that enemies aren't being affected too much, perhaps it needs to be increased. Again, trial and error will suit you best here. Hero speed should be generous since Insane difficulty is timed and you don't want your hero to be so slow that you have trouble finishing your build in a reasonable time. The same thing goes for Hero casting rate, since it directly affects how quickly you lay down your auras.blankline

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This is my second DPS character. One definitive advantage to this class (as discussed below) is it's overcharge ability. When leveling my Apprentice, I distributed my points so that the total (equipment points + hero points) ended up in the following range(s):

Hero Health: Varying

Hero Damage: As high as possible, while keeping the others stats within respective ranges

Hero Speed: 50-70

Hero Casting Rate: 70

Mana Bomb Ability: Varying

Overcharge Ability: Varying

You'll probably want to level your DPS apprentice similarly to the DPS Huntress. Concentrate your points on your hero damage first. Once that's maxed out, some people like to max out their mana bomb, which is a large AOE attack. I have a maxed out mana bomb ability, but I don't use it often. If you don't find you use it often either, perhaps you may not want to invest in it as much. What I do find more useful is the Overcharge ability. First off, the overcharge ability has a very quick cooldown rate (3 seconds). When activated, anything casting-related (e.g., repairing, upgrading) is done at an exceedingly faster rate than normal. This allows you to quickly repair or upgrade a set of defenses much quicker than most classes. For this reason, you probably don't need to put more than 70 points (if even that) into hero casting rate. The rest of the points can be distributed into the stats as shown.blankline

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In my opinion, a trap Huntress isn't a necessity, but it's probably a good character build to have for particular situations, or just for fun. Much like the monk, her traps are used primarily to supplement the Squire's defenses. When leveling my Huntress, I distributed my points so that the total (equipment points + hero points) ended up in the following range(s):

Trap Health: 180-200

Trap Damage: As high as possible, while keeping the others stats within respective ranges

Trap Radius: 50-80

Trap Affect Speed: 100-120

Hero Speed: 50-70

Hero Casting Rate: 70-100

The trap Huntress can be leveled up similarly to the aura monk. Most points early on should be put into trap damage until the stat has been maxed out. Similarly to the other defenses, there are decreasing returns to trap health, so, again, I usually keep it within the 180-200 range. The trap radius can be adjusted to suit your needs. Having too small a radius may make it so your traps don't cover enough ground to be effective. Too large a radius may have similar effects to auras that are too large. Again, two of the same types of traps cannot intersect, so you may find it difficult to place similar traps close together on smaller maps. Second, traps that are too large cover too much ground, and the more enemies that are caught in the trap, the quicker it depletes. For me, an radius of 60 is reasonable. There are a couple of good things to note about traps. For one, the Huntress' traps can be manually triggered via the hero wheel. Furthermore, if you place a series of traps (e.g., Ethereal Spike Trap)adjacent to each other and detonate one, it'll cause a chain reaction, detonating the rest of the adjacent traps in sequence. Similar to auras, the affect speed can be tinkered with depending on how quickly your traps die. Again, Hero speed should be generous since Insane difficulty is timed and you don't want your hero to be so slow that you have trouble finishing your build in a reasonable time. The same thing goes for Hero casting rate, since it directly affects how quickly you lay down your traps.blankline

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Dungeon Defenders has a large variety of weapons for each hero class. Particular weapons have strengths that lend themselves well to certain types of builds. I'll discuss which weapons these are, how to acquire them, and possible ways on how you could upgrade them depending on the item. This is merely a guide, so you can choose to upgrade your weapons as you wish.

Mobile Moxie (Squire)

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This is probably one of the best "vanilla" weapons for a tower squire. At a minimum, it usually has 20+ starting tower health, which is what makes it ideal for tower builds. The one shown does not have a tower damage stat, so if you were to want to upgrade it, you would want to add to the existing 25 points of tower health, giving you over 50 tower health points just from your weapon alone! At times, you maybe come across a Mobile Moxie that has a tower damage stat. The tower health stat will still be in the 20's, but the tower damage will be low, maybe 3-4 points. What people sometimes do when upgrading one of those is to leave the tower health as is, and put all the upgrades into tower damage. That way, the moxie has good tower damage and good tower health stats.

You get the Mobile Moxie as a reward for completing the Challenge: No Towers Allowed on Insane difficulty.blanklineblankline

Ogre's Childhood Toy (Monk)

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The Ogre's Childhood toy is a good weapon to use with an Aura Monk. Typically, the weapon starts out with an excellent tower damage stat. You can upgrade the weapon similarly to the Mobile Moxie, by either: 1) adding more points into tower damage, or 2) leaving the tower damage alone and distributing the upgrades into tower health. That way, you have a weapon that has both stats that are relatively good. Ultimately, it's up to you. If you notice that your overall aura health (hero points + equipment points) is low, then it may be best to put the upgrades into tower health. If you see your aura health is fine, then perhaps putting the upgrades into tower damage is best.

You get the Ogre's Childhood Toy as a reward for completing the Challenge: Unlikely Allies on Insane difficulty.blankline
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Blasticus (Huntress)

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The Blasticus is a weapon that can be useful for both DPS and trap Huntresses. Typically, the blasticus starts with a decent tower damage stat, which is desirable to trap huntresses. Similar to other "tower" weapons, you can upgrade it by either adding more points to tower damage, or by putting some (or all) of your upgrades into tower health.

If you're upgrading it to be a DPS weapon, you'll want to upgrade it a particular way. This is sort of the "rule of thumb" for upgrading DPS Huntress weapons. You want to invest every upgrade possible into the weapon's base damage stat UNLESS you have the option to upgrade the shots-per-second stat, which will be available every few upgrades until it's capped, at which point, you can't put anymore upgrades into it. The cap is different for different weapons, but is typically anywhere from 8-10 shots-per-second. If you manage to score a high-upgrade weapon, you may want to invest some upgrades into clip size, reload speed bonus, or projectile speed, depending on your needs. Alternatively, you can keep farming for weapons that have higher starting values for these stats, so you can maximize the amount of points you can put into the weapon's damage and shots-per-second.You get the Blasticus as a reward for completing the Challenge: Assault on Insane difficulty.blankline
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Crystal Tracker (Huntress)

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The Crystal Tracker is a weapon that can be used by either DPS or trap Huntresses, but typically doesn't have good enough stats for traps, so it's primarily used as a DPS weapon. Similarly to the Blasticus, you'll want to invest every upgrade possible into the weapon's base damage stat UNLESS you have the option to upgrade the shots-per-second stat, until you've maxed it out. The strength of the Crystal Tracker is definitely its splash damage. It's good for crowd control and taking out large groups of enemies, where as the Blasticus is powerful, but only fires a single stream of bullets.

You get the Crystal Tracker for completing the Challenge: Warping Core on Insane difficulty.blankline
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The Soul Focuser

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The Soul Focuser is another weapon that's quite useful. Although it's not as damaging as the Blasticus or Crystal Tracker, the Soul Focuser has the distinct advantage of being able to shoot through walls. This makes it an ideal weapon to use for certain challenges such as Warping Core and Wizardry. You'll want to upgrade it just like any of the other Huntress weapons, focusing mainly on weapon base damage and shots per second, when available.

You get the Soul Focuser for completing the Alchemical Laboratory on Insane difficulty.

The variety of armor in Dungeon Defenders is, effectively, infinite. When farming for armor, better armor can typically be found in the harder maps, and on the more difficult settings. DLC maps also often tend to provide fairly decent armor.

There are various types of armor, including:

Armor Types and Qualities

Leather

Chain

Mail

Plate

Pristine

Along with there being various types, there are various qualities of armor, including:

Torn

Worn

Unlucky

Lucky

Legendary

Epic Enchanged

Godly

Both the type and quality of the armor will affect the base stats. A piece of armor that's of Legendary quality will (typically) have better (or more) stats than a Worn piece of armor.

Choosing Armor

Whenever you have a substantial amount of armor, it's always good to go through the inventory to see if there's pieces that you can change up, keeping several things in mind:

Always try to match pieces of the same type (e.g., leather, chain, mail) because if you get a complete set, you'll get a ~30% boost to all your stats.

When your bonus is active (you have blue outlines around all your armor pieces) comparing stats for a piece you have in your inventory and one you have equipped is misleading. The stats for a piece in your inventory DO NOT have the bonus, so they will, almost always, be lower. When you equip the piece, though, the stats will increase due to the bonus. You may have to switch the pieces back and forth to see the true effect.

This is just common sense, but try to avoid pieces with negative stats, if at all possible. This is most often an issue when the piece has good avlues for most of it's stats, but may have a negative value for one. Sometimes, that negative value is worth taking if it's on a stat that has no bearing on your type of character. In the end, it depends on who you're trying to put the piece on. If the negative value, for example, is a tower stat, but the piece has good DPS stats, then it's worth it.

Following the previous point, two stats I almost always refuse to have a negative for are Hero Speed and Hero Casting Rate. These are discussed in thorough detail in the Character Build Primer section of the guide.

More upgrades DOESN'T ALWAYS necessarily mean BETTER! Always compare stats for pieces. Also, try to keep in mind the various threshholds for upgrade values and hero level requirements. A 20+ upgrade piece is, essentially, worthless for a Lvl 74 because there are armor pieces in the 30+ upgrade range that can be equipped, and so forth.

Upgrading Armor

When upgrading armor, the rules are similar to choosing armor.

When upgrading the armor pieces, always keep in mind what type of character you're building. Obviously, if the character is a builder, you'll want to focus on the tower stats. If they're a DPS, you'll want to focus on hero stats.

Typically, for each piece, you'll want to focus on a single stat. For example, you may want to upgrade one piece with all tower/hero damage as opposed to trying to distribute upgrades evenly.

When upgrading, keep in mind what your hero stats are.Typically, since there is no max set on how many points you can put into a particular stat on a piece of armor, you'll want to focus most of your armor points into damage and/or health. Hero points in any given category are capped at 120, so in my opinion, it's best to use the hero points to supplement the armor pieces you're wearing, rather than the other way around. Besides, you can respec your hero as many times as you need to, so when you get a new piece of armor (upgraded or not) you can adjust your hero points accordingly to maintain a good balance.

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Probably one of the most coveted of the vanilla pets in the game is the Giraffe on a Treadmill. While the giraffe itself doesn't do anything, the strength of this pet comes in the form of its stats. NOTE:The stats shown in the screenshot above are for illustration purposes only. Console pets will not have stats this high. Obviously, different giraffes will have different base stats.

There are typically three 'types' of giraffes. There are some that have decent stats Hero-based AND Tower-based stats. Obviously, these can be upgraded any way you'd like, either towers or DPS. Some giraffes will have low (or negative) values in either the hero or tower stats. With these, you'll want to upgrade them according to where their strengths are. For example, if a giraffes has low or negative values in ANY of the tower stats, that'll make for a good DPS giraffe, so you'll want to upgrade something like Hero damage. Alternatively, with a giraffe with negative hero values, you'll want to upgrade it's tower stats.

To get a giraffe, you'll need to make it to wave 25 of Pure Strategy. Anyone who's played Pure Strategy up to the higher waves on the vanilla maps will know that it's near impossible because of the volume of enemies that appear on the map. It'll either take hours, at which point you'll probably just lose patience and give up, or your console may freeze. That being said, if you can't trade for giraffes, or you want to farm some on your own, the best (and probably easiest) map to do Pure Strategy on is probably the first DLC map, Mistymire Forest. The set-up is actually fairly simple, assuming you have the necessary builders.

There's probably not too much incentive on doing a 'giraffe run' on anything higher than Hard difficulty. For Medium/Hard difficulty, you'll want to place Inferno and Gas traps, in that order, near each spawn point. A little ways back, set up a Slice-and-Dice in each of the four corridors. Behind each Slice-and-Dice, place one harpoon. Cover each Slice-and-Dice with Strength Drain, Electric, and Ensare auras. The only other issue will be the two spawn points for wyverns. They'll be coming from the Southwest and be primarily focused on the two southwestern crystals (looking down on the minimap--press to access the minimap). Just place a harpoon to the Northeast of each crystal and upgrade them fairly quickly and it should hold off most wyverns.

Unlike the campaign portion of Mistymire Forest, Pure Strategy has no spiders, so that's a plus. Starting with the second wave, you'll have an ogre spawn at a random spawn point. From there, an additional ogre will spawn each wave until wave 12 where four ogres will spawn on the map at random intervals. From wave 13 onward, only a single ogre per wave will spawn. If you can make it to the point where only one ogre per wave spawns, you're pretty much set. From there, it's all about managing your towers properly. If you want to get additional giraffes, bring in additional controllers during the 'build' portion of wave 25. Keep in mind that Guardians are very useful in doing Pure Strategy since they directly affect towers. Also, since multiple ogres may (and probably will) spawn on the map at the same time, having good hero speed is probably a good thing. Also, having a high casting rate won't hurt in case you need to upgrade your towers during the combat phase.

If you find doing it on Medium/Hard is a bit challenging, you can always set it to Easy and complete the 25 waves that way. What's more, if your Squire is strong enough (level 70 should suffice), you can set up a Slice-and-Dice at each choke point and place four harpoons behind it and that should be enough of a build to complete all 25 waves, assuming you maintain them when necessary; there's no need for traps or auras. Even on Easy, you may get awarded with a giraffe that has fairly decent stats, so don't be discouraged by the fact that it's a lower difficulty.

Complete Wave 25 of Pure Strategy/Survival and you'll be awarded with the Giraffe on a Treadmill.blankline
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Fairy

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Fairies have the ability to constantly heal you and any nearby allies when your health is less than full. The amount of HP you receive per second depends on the stat in the upper-left corner. Faries can be purchased from the Tavernkeep. Alternatively, you can reach wave 15 of the Royal Gardens to acquire a fairy. Furthermore, a special fairy, Kairi the Brave (shown below), can be acquired if you reach wave 20 of Mistymire Forest on Survival or Pure Strategy on Hard difficulty or higher.

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Reach Wave 15 of Pure Strategy/Survival on Royal Gardens and you'll be awarded with a Fairy. To receive a Kairi the Brave, you much reach Wave 20 of Pure Strategy/Survival on Mistymire Forest DLC.
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Genie

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The genie has the useful ability of granting a small amount of mana to your hero according to the damage you do. The amount of mana/sec depends on the mana collection bonus stat in the upper-left corner. The higher the stat, the more mana the genie will grant you per kill.blankline
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Guardian

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Guardian familars are pets that look like little angelic versions of your heroes. The Monk is shown in the screenshot above. The Guardians' ability consists of affecting your heroes' towers. Each type of guardian, one for each hero class, has a particular ability. Guardians can be acquired by purchasing them from the Tavernkeep or by completing The Summit on Hard difficulty or lower as the particular type of hero class the guardian pertains to. Any hero class can equip any type of guardian.

Apprentice Guardian - Boosts tower damage

Squire Guardian - Boosts tower health

Huntress Guardian - Boosts tower rate of attack

Monk Guardian - Boosts tower area of effect

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Animus

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The Animus pet looks like a devlish version of your heroes, in contrast with the Guardian pet. Each animus has the same type of ability. The Animus is a damage-dealing pet that shoots lasers from its eyes. It's a good pet to have for either a tower character or a DPS character. The DPS character will obviously benefit from the added damage the pet is doing. Although it's not the ideal pet for tower characters because there are pets that boost tower stats much better than the animus (e.g., Giraffe), if you find yourself having trouble finishing builds and need that bit of extra time during the combat phase but you can't seem to kill enemies easily/quickly enough, having an animus to help you wouldn't hurt. After you finish your build, you can always go to the forge during the next build phase and switch to your "tower" pet to pad your towers with the additional stat bonuses. For example, you could use an animus during the first couple of waves to finish your build. During the next build phase, switch to your tower giraffe and the towers will exhibit the increased stats of the giraffe, not the animus you used to build with.blankline
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Laser Robot (non-event)

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The laser robot is another pet that deals damage. Similar to the animus, the laser robot shoots lasers from its eyes. It doesn't do as much damage as an animus of comparable upgrades would, but one advantage it has over the animus is that it shoots multiple sets of projectives, as opposed to just a single set. Also, like the animus, it can be used by both DPS and tower builds. The DPS will benefit from its additional damage, obviously. Like the animus, the laser robot can be used by a builder to watch his/her back while completing the build. After the build is complete, you can swap out the robot for your tower pet to boost your tower defense stats.